What Does 1 Kings 10:1 Mean in the King James?
And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Hebrew uses the same root for her hearing and Solomon’s report, then echoes its sound in “name” (שֵׁם, shem), so the renown points toward the LORD’s nature.
THE MEANING
The report about Solomon is tied directly to the LORD’s name, so acclaim points beyond a person to the nature his wisdom is said to carry. The queen arrives with hard questions, and the claim meets her scrutiny through an encounter with that wisdom.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a reputation alone proves wisdom: what is heard still meets the test of encounter.
THE ROOT
שֹׁמַעַת
shōmaʿat
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear, listen, or heed.
“heard / fame” in this verse is shōmaʿat. The queen “hears” (שֹׁמַעַת, shōmaʿat) the “report” or “fame” (שֵׁמַע, shēmaʿ) of Solomon; both words grow from שמע, the root of hearing. The following “name” (שֵׁם, shem) echoes those consonants but is not the same root, drawing the report toward the LORD’s nature.
ALSO GROWS
shāmaʿ: To hear, listen, or heed.
שָׁמַע
This verb is the root beneath the queen’s act of hearing.
shemuʿah: A report or news.
שְׁמוּעָה
This related noun shows how hearing becomes a report that can travel and be tested.
THE PATTERN
Wisdom associated with God becomes recognizable through its fruits and can withstand scrutiny.
Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.THE THREAD
The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.This verse names the queen’s journey and places someone greater than Solomon before the reader. Her search for Solomon’s wisdom becomes a sign that wisdom can point beyond even its wisest bearer.
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